In Indonesia, an Afghan refugee who is desperate burns himself on fire

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

After years of living in limbo, tens of thousands of Afghans, predominantly Hazara, are losing hope of being resettled.

 

When his buddy and fellow refugee, Ahmad Shah, began acting abnormally in front of the Indonesian Organization for Migration (IOM) building in the Indonesian city of Medan, Afghan refugee Ezat Najafi suspected something was amiss.

For the past month, a group of Afghan refugees, some of whom have been stuck in Indonesia for almost a decade, have been conducting a 24-hour protest in front of the IOM headquarters, sleeping in tents set up in the forecourt.

 

The IOM is in charge of caring for refugees in Indonesia while they wait to be resettled in a third country.

Najafi, 30, told Al Jazeera, "I attempted to save him and talk to him."
In 2015, he arrived in Indonesia.

 

"'Please don't do this,' I said.
He poured gasoline on his clothes and took out two lighters, one in each hand, all of a sudden.
I tried to reason with him and advised him to be patient, but he refused."

Shah, 22, probably thought he had waited long enough.

Shah, who arrived in Indonesia as a teenager in 2016, has been waiting for five years to be permanently resettled, and his friends told Al Jazeera that the uncertainty, along with a long-term health issue, has caused him to become depressed.

Najafi didn't notice anything was wrong until he saw his friend, plainly agitated, pacing in front of the building and shouting incoherently.

 

What happened next is captured in an amateur video recorded on the scene and extensively distributed on Indonesian social media:
As he switched the lighters in his hands and ignited his petrol-soaked garments, Najafi and several other immigrants sought to reason with Shah.

As Najafi surged forward Shah in a desperate attempt to save him, flames enveloped his upper body, and he was beaten back by the heat.
Finally, with a fire extinguisher in hand, a security guard rushed to Shah and extinguished the flames.

 

Another immigrant, 25-year-old Mohammad Reza, told Al Jazeera, "He was on fire for maybe 20 seconds."

Shah's arms and face were seriously scorched when the flames died down.
According to his companions, he was transferred across the street to a private hospital, but the IOM shifted him to one of Medan's public hospitals the same day since the organisation did not want to pay for his medical care.

 

Raising their voice

 

At least 13 Afghan refugees have committed suicide in Indonesia since 2016.
They had been waiting for between six and eleven years to be resettled.

The IOM declined to answer specific questions when contacted by Al Jazeera for comment, but stated in a statement that it was "very worried" about the situation in Medan.

It went on to say that it was working with the hospital and other parties to provide care for the injured.

"IOM will continue to deliver health, psychological, and protection programmes to all refugees in Medan and throughout the nation," according to the statement.

 

The IOM, on the other hand, did not come to speak with the refugees after the incident, and has not provided appropriate support in previous years, according to the refugees.

"That's why we abandoned our customary IOM lodging in favour of this camp." Reza told Al Jazeera, "We want to raise our voices." "It's been years since we've been here, and nothing has happened." At this precarious time, we are stranded in the midst of nowhere. We're all dealing with psychological issues."

 

One of the main obstacles for refugees in Indonesia, according to Rima Shah Putra, the director of the Geutanyoe Foundation, an NGO that provides education and psychosocial support to refugees in Indonesia and Malaysia, is a lack of definitive answers about when they will be resettled in a third country.

"There aren't many things they can do while they're still in transit in Indonesia," he said.
“This can cause great stress for refugees and asylum seekers.”

 

Indonesia, like many other Southeast Asian countries, has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Refugee Protocol, which permits for permanent resettlement in a host country.

This means that refugees are only allowed to stay for a limited time while they await resettlement in another country, usually the United States or Canada.

And they are subject to harsh rules in Indonesia while they wait.

 

Working, possessing a car or motorcycle, travelling outside of the municipal borders, and attending university are all illegal.
The IOM provides lodging, which is mainly in dilapidated hotels, as well as a stipend for food and other necessities.
Each adult refugee receives 1,250,000 Indonesian rupiah ($86) per month, while children receive 500,000 Indonesian rupiah ($34) each month.

[steven100]

So they get free board and lodging and $86 per month.  If they were back in Afghanistan they would be worse off.

It's not paradise beach,  but it's a hell of alot better than many other places,  think about being stuck in Yemen or Burma or Nigeria.